The present invention relates to a system for coating contact lenses, or other optical lens devices, particularly those made of silicone-containing polymer. Hereinafter the term silicone polymers are used to indicate silicone-containing polymers suitable for ocular uses, including rigid silicone polymers, silicone elastomers and silicone hydrogels. The advantages of silicone polymers as contact lens materials have long been recognized. However, silicone polymers have several disadvantages. For example, certain materials in the eye's tear film tend to adhere to the lenses and reduce their optical clarity. The silicone lens, especially silicone elastomer or hydrogel lens, may be tacky and this characteristic may render the lens to stick to the cornea, and the material's hydrophobic nature prevents the lens from wetting.
To resolve these problems, it is known to apply a very thin hydrophilic coating using electrical glow discharge polymerization. Generally, the coating process involves placing a silicone lens core in, or moving it through, a plasma cloud so that the material adheres to the core. Although various materials may be used, hydrocarbons such as methane may be used.
The polymerized coating provides a highly wettable surface without significantly, if at all, reducing the oxygen and carbon dioxide permeability of the lens. It also provides an effective barrier against tear film material that would otherwise adhere to the lens, thereby preventing the optical clarity degradation that would otherwise occur.
Conventional plasma polymerization lens coating techniques employ batch systems in which one or more silicone lens cores are placed in a reactor chamber between opposing electrodes. The chamber is then sealed and depressurized by a vacuum system. Significant time is required to pump the batch system to the operative pressure. When a suitable pressure is achieved in the chamber, a process gas is introduced into the chamber interior, and the electrodes are energized. The resulting plasma cloud may apply a thin polymer coating to the lens. After an appropriate time, the electrodes are de-energized, and the reactor chamber is brought back to atmospheric pressure so that the lenses may be removed.
It has been recognized that it is preferable to move the lenses through the plasma cloud. Thus, in certain systems, the silicone lens cores are mounted on a rotating wheel disposed between the electrodes so that the wheel carries the lenses through the cloud. These systems are sometimes described as “continuous” systems to distinguish them from other batch systems. However, all such systems are considered to be batch systems for purposes of the present disclosure in that each requires a reactor chamber that must be repeatedly pressurized and depressurized as one or more groups of silicone lens cores are placed in and removed from the system.
One example of a batch system is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 4,312,575 to Peyman et al., the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein for all purposes. In “Ultrathin Coating Of Plasma Polymer Of Methane Applied On The Surface Of Silicone Contact Lenses,” Journal of Biomedical Materials Research, Vol. 22, 919-937 (1988), Peng Ho and Yasuda describe a batch system including a bell-shaped vacuum chamber in which opposing aluminum electrodes are disposed. A rotatable aluminum plate sits between the electrodes and is driven by an induction motor within the system.